Picked up my 320i M Sport EBII Manual on Saturday afternoon and traded in my old trusty eco-warrior 118d Sport. The 118d had been good to me, lovely to own and drive, never had any problems and a full tank of diesel just seem to last forever! It just lacked a bit of punch but was fast enough for day to day driving and the £30 annual road tax and it's economy made up for it. I was a little sad to let it go but when I look at my new F30, the old 118d is all forgotten! I'm really pleased with my 320i and I still have a smile on my face, it looks much better in real life than in picture IMO! I got to drive it out of the showroom which was a nice touch and was a very pleasant pick up experience again (exactly the same as last time when I got my E87).

I can go on and on about the good things about my F30 but I'm sure you've all heard the good points before so I'll let you know the little gripes I have at the moment...

1) I can't seem to find a good position for the M Sport steering wheel. As nice as the wheel is, I find the left and right spokes are placed a little too low, I think I would be slightly more comfortable if they were placed higher rather than having your hands at exactly 3 and 9 o'clock position. I can hold it at the 10 and 2 position (above the bulged out bits) which is perfect but I have to move my hands down if I want to access the controls on the steering wheel.

2) I find the small LCD screen on the bottom of the dashboard placed too low. With my steering column adjusted to sit pretty high to give me a comfy driving position, I find it obstructs the bottom half of the screen. So unless I look over the steering wheel, I can't usually see the bottom line of the screen showing the temp, ODO and trip meter.

3) Reverse parking sensors continue beeping even after I take the gear shift out of reverse! Anyway to remedy this??

4) I find my doors don't always close properly. Maybe I'm not slamming them hard enough as I'm very precious with the car.

Anyway, these are just small gripes from pootling around this weekend. Overall, it's a beautiful car to look at and it drives even better! So balanced and refined, has punch when you need it and the 320i is a good balance between performance and economy. I love it!

2) I find the small LCD screen on the bottom of the dashboard placed too low. With my steering column adjusted to sit pretty high to give me a comfy driving position, I find it obstructs the bottom half of the screen. So unless I look over the steering wheel, I can't usually see the bottom line of the screen showing the temp, ODO and trip meter.

My problem is I can't see the entire speedo, either I can't see the top or can't see the bottom. I've just set it so I can't see the top. on my E91 I could see the entire speed and LCD display. Anyway I've never sat in a F30 without the full black panel display, but its a lot bigger so can't comment on the smaller LCD display.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny5iv3

3) Reverse parking sensors continue beeping even after I take the gear shift out of reverse! Anyway to remedy this??

Yes the bump in the steering wheel shroud obstructs the lower part of the screen as you mention. Worse on Pro Nav as it shows the lane markers right at the bottom.

I took Highland Pete's advice on this one. I'm paraphrasing but it was something along the lines of "you're doing it all wrong, BMW know what's good for you, move your bloody seat". I've now adjusted my 20+ year seating position and all is right with the world.

Looks great! How are you finding the 320i engine? Do you miss the turbo diesel torque?

I do find a lack the low end torque compared to a diesel engine but you have extra revs on the 320i to play with and it just climbs and climbs up to 7k! Its just a different style of driving and I personally don't miss the diesel clatter noise one bit.

I find the 320i engine pretty balanced between power/economy and it's very refined. I was thinking of pushing my budget to stretch for the 328i but my brain (and wife) told me not to. As fun as the 328i may be, I guess after the honeymoon period, I will probably cherish running costs more than a few quick blasts down some A and B roads! And it's not like the 320i is a sluggish car.

I drove the car down the M6 to a wedding yesterday and managed 45.2mpg which I was pretty impressed with especially the engine's not even been broken in yet!

I do find a lack the low end torque compared to a diesel engine but you have extra revs on the 320i to play with and it just climbs and climbs up to 7k! Its just a different style of driving and I personally don't miss the diesel clatter noise one bit.

I find the 320i engine pretty balanced between power/economy and it's very refined. I was thinking of pushing my budget to stretch for the 328i but my brain (and wife) told me not to. As fun as the 328i may be, I guess after the honeymoon period, I will probably cherish running costs more than a few quick blasts down some A and B roads! And it's not like the 320i is a sluggish car.

I drove the car down the M6 to a wedding yesterday and managed 45.2mpg which I was pretty impressed with especially the engine's not even been broken in yet!

Interesting. I have also gone from a 170BHP diesel engine and am having to "re-learn" a petrol engine. I do find in Sport mode that the engine seems to be very responsive, so i've not missed the torque a great deal yet, the smooth delivery making up for it. I've not gone past 4,000 revs yet as still running in so i haven't been powering up steep inclines which is where i most enjoyed the torque in my diesel. I would imagine though that the 8AT will just step down to ensure the power. As for economy i've been getting only 28mpg so far but on a commute littered with temporary lights and the start-stop wasn't able to come on yet. I know the xDrive adds weight but i'm hoping my economy will start to climb a bit!

Interesting. I have also gone from a 170BHP diesel engine and am having to "re-learn" a petrol engine. I do find in Sport mode that the engine seems to be very responsive, so i've not missed the torque a great deal yet, the smooth delivery making up for it. I've not gone past 4,000 revs yet as still running in so i haven't been powering up steep inclines which is where i most enjoyed the torque in my diesel. I would imagine though that the 8AT will just step down to ensure the power. As for economy i've been getting only 28mpg so far but on a commute littered with temporary lights and the start-stop wasn't able to come on yet. I know the xDrive adds weight but i'm hoping my economy will start to climb a bit!

Deffo agree with what you say about good torque in sports mode.

When I test drove the 320i xDrive in January, I remember the power really serges after about 4k revs so you really need to give it some to unlock the potential of the engine. I haven't really pushed my car yet, but I can feel I'm currently holding it back with my conserved driving style trying to take it easy.

I find when I'm pulling out of junctions etc I always put the car in sport mode as the the eco pro and comfort just don't feel zippy enough to quickly pull out, especially when the roads are busy.

I think with the petrol engine, you need to give it a bit more revs when pulling away compare to when I was driving a diesel. I think 1.5K revs in a diesel is not the same as 1.5k in a petrol, it's probably more like 2+k revs!

Interesting. I have also gone from a 170BHP diesel engine and am having to "re-learn" a petrol engine. I do find in Sport mode that the engine seems to be very responsive, so i've not missed the torque a great deal yet, the smooth delivery making up for it. I've not gone past 4,000 revs yet as still running in so i haven't been powering up steep inclines which is where i most enjoyed the torque in my diesel. I would imagine though that the 8AT will just step down to ensure the power. As for economy i've been getting only 28mpg so far but on a commute littered with temporary lights and the start-stop wasn't able to come on yet. I know the xDrive adds weight but i'm hoping my economy will start to climb a bit!

A thought the M5 gives 28 MPG out of town thats very low IMO for your car unless town driven all the time.

Like I said previously, I got 45.2mpg on the motorway out of my 320i Manual driving back from Birmingham to Manchester and that includes driving out of Brum city centre during rush hour. But this was done mostly in Eco-Pro mode and cruise control on the motorway.

I really wanted to go for vis pack and the xenons and DRL do look great but considering I don't do much night driving, I really didn't want to spent the extra £1k+! So I opted to just watch my pockets since the arrival of my 6 month old boy..... nurseries are bloody expensive these days!

A thought the M5 gives 28 MPG out of town thats very low IMO for your car unless town driven all the time.

Unfortunately i've only really driven the commute so far since I picked the car up. It's littered with temporary traffic lights and in the cold mornings the start-stop hasn't been available so i've barely got to 20+mpg before it slowly drops at the traffic lights! It was only yesterday however i realised that the mpg on the trip view on the dash is the one that is since I got the car and the trip computer showing the journey mpg is on the iDrive screen! I had thought it wasn't very dynamic and that's why!

Unfortunately i've only really driven the commute so far since I picked the car up. It's littered with temporary traffic lights and in the cold mornings the start-stop hasn't been available so i've barely got to 20+mpg before it slowly drops at the traffic lights! It was only yesterday however i realised that the mpg on the trip view on the dash is the one that is since I got the car and the trip computer showing the journey mpg is on the iDrive screen! I had thought it wasn't very dynamic and that's why!

When I test drove the 320i xDrive in January, I remember the power really serges after about 4k revs so you really need to give it some to unlock the potential of the engine. I haven't really pushed my car yet, but I can feel I'm currently holding it back with my conserved driving style trying to take it easy.

I find when I'm pulling out of junctions etc I always put the car in sport mode as the the eco pro and comfort just don't feel zippy enough to quickly pull out, especially when the roads are busy.

I think with the petrol engine, you need to give it a bit more revs when pulling away compare to when I was driving a diesel. I think 1.5K revs in a diesel is not the same as 1.5k in a petrol, it's probably more like 2+k revs!

I guess once I get past the first few hundred miles i've got the joys of 4,000 plus revs! In Sport mode it seems lively enough without troubling that rev range so I feel happy so far. I have used comfort mode most of the time so far and find it more than able to nip out of junctions etc. but I can see Sport mode quickly becoming the default for a more enjoyable driving experience

My A3 TDI quattro was usually averaging 45mpg on the way into work and 40mpg on the way home. Given the traffic problems of late I was struggling to get much over 40mpg. Had budgeted on the previous 45mpg average being compared to 34mpg with the BMW petrol so i'm possibly not too far away from that anticipated.